South Dakota hosts Green Bay at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion, S.D. The game will be broadcast by MidcoSN and picked up by ESPN3.
The Game
We have a mentor versus mentee match-up as USD's
Dawn Plitzuweit faces her collegiate coach and mentor Kevin Borseth. The pair spent 11 seasons together with stops at Michigan Tech, Green Bay and Michigan. After Michigan, Borseth returned to Green Bay while Plitzuweit took the head gig at Northern Kentucky. The last meeting between the two came in the 2016 Horizon League Tournament in Plitzuweit's final game at NKU. The semifinal matchup went to double-overtime with the Phoenix advancing to the final 80-78. Both are now head coaches at some of the nation's top mid-majors. Green Bay is ranked fourth in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll, while South Dakota is ranked sixth.
The Coyotes
South Dakota (6-1) made history on Wednesday night as the team knocked off No. 23 Iowa State inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. It marked the first win over an AP Top 25 team in program history. The Coyotes' lone loss was to Drake, which moved to No. 24 in this week's Associated Press Poll. Junior guard
Ciara Duffy is hitting her stride at just the right time with big games on the slate. Duffy has led the Coyotes in scoring for four-straight games, scoring a career high 26 points at Montana and adding 17 points against Iowa State. Senior guard
Allison Arens added 11 points the last time out, while sophomore center
Hannah Sjerven became the first Coyote to record a double-double this season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Phoenix
Green Bay (3-3) has won the Horizon League regular season for 20-straight years and made 18 NCAA Tournament appearances in that span. The Phoenix cap off a tough road-trip to the state of South Dakota with games at the Summit League's top-two programs in USD and SDSU. The Phoenix defense led the nation last year while giving up just 47.4 points per game and holding teams to 32.6 percent from the floor. Green Bay junior guard Frankie Wurtz is the lone player in double figures, leading the team with 11.2 points per game. Jen Wellnitz was voted to the Horizon League's preseason first team. She's averaging 6.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
The Series
Green Bay leads the short series with South Dakota 2-0. The two teams initially met in the Sioux Falls Arena in the 2009-10 season before the Coyotes made a return trip to Green Bay in 2010-11.
One Last Thing
Call it home-court magic. Since moving into the Sanford Coyote Sports Center in 2016-17, the Coyote women have compiled a 33-3 record with the latest victory coming against No. 23 Iowa State earlier this week. Combined with the men, Coyote basketball boasts a 61-6 record in the facility.
